An elephant’s proboscis, more commonly known as its trunk, is incredibly important to an elephant. The trunk is an appendage which infact evolved from the merging of the nose and the superior upper lip; as early biologists noted however, several of the ways an elephant uses it’s trunk caused them to refer to the trunk as the elephant’s ‘hand’.
Some may mistakenly believe that the primary use of an elephant’s trunk is for eating, but this is infact not the case. Although food gathering is a crucial use of the trunk, the primary use of an elephant’s trunk is drinking – without its trunk the elephant would quickly die of dehydration well before it suffered from lack of food. Where an elephant’s drinking is concerned, individuals are able to submerge the tip of their trunks in water, sucking up huge amounts of liquid into their nasal cavities. From there, an elephant will squirt the water back out through its trunk and into its open mouth. An adult Asian elephant can hold 8.5 litres of water in it’s trunk at once, and over a period of 5 minutes, can drink up to 210 litres. The elephant would struggle to drink at all without its trunk, replying instead on the insignificant amount of water contained in its food.
In terms of breathing, although the elephant can breath through their mouths and well as through their proboscis, the trunk can be used very effectively as a snorkel for breathing underwater. As the majority of elephants love swimming in pools, this is an extremely handy aspect to the trunk, and it is believed that this was the original function of the trunk prior to further evolution.
An elephant’s trunk has an extremely well developed sense of smell; from being able to detect the approach of dangerous predators through their scent, to being able to smell the smoke of bush fires from a great distance and helping them to avoid danger, the trunk’s accuracy and skillfulness in detecting scents make it a vitally useful tool for an elephant to possess.
Another crucial use of the trunk is eating, where the elephant will use it’s trunk as a hand-like tool. An adult elephant’s trunk contains over 150,000 muscles which work in pairs to bestow the truck with enormous strength and flexibility. Combined with a very sensitive trunk tip, or lip, this means that the trunk can be used for both tough and delicate tasks. An elephant can wrap its trunk gently around its food – a piece of fruit, banana plant or vegetation for example – and accurately guide it to its mouth using only the trunk.
In addition to survival tasks, elephants use their trunks in a variety of emotional gestures, and it can be used to demonstrate a range of feelings and emotions, whether directed boisterous elephant calves, or at dangerous threats. The trunk is used both in gentle caresses, particularly where younger members of the troop and offspring are concerned, and in admonitory hits when calves are seen as misbehaving by their elders. By raising a trunk in a family group, an elephant can be signalling for the attention of the other troop members, and the trunk is often used as a way of communicating between individuals.
An elephant can signal to aggressors that it is distressed or angry by beating the ground violently with its trunk, but despite using the trunk in this threatening way to predators and humans who come too near, the trunk is never used as a weapon; the trunk is far too valuable to an elephant to risk it’s injury, and an elephant will tuck its trunk backwards when charging to minimise the possibility of injury. Instead of the trunk, the elephant will favour using its forehead as a battering ram, its front feet to trample and its tusks to gouge.
Individual elephants can also be seen to beat the earth with the outside of their trunk to test the firmness of the earth, if feels like it is on unsteady or unfamiliar ground. Due to their heavy weight – an African adult elephant for example, weighs between 4000 and 7000kg – this ability becomes particularly useful during monsoon seasons, where ground which is usually stable quickly be turned into treacherous quagmire.
The answer to why elephants have trunks is a very easy one: the elephant’s trunk has a wide range of uses, all of which are vital to the elephant’s survival, both in the short and long-term. With the first true elephant belonging to the genus Primeelephas during the Pliocine era 5 million years ago, the modern day Asian and African elephants have evolved a trunk which is perfectly designed for their current needs, and without which they would be unable to function. The trunk is a vitally important tool in an elephant’s everyday life.
Sources:
http://www.elephant.se/primelephas.php
http://www.elefantasia.org/spip.php?article65&lang=en
Personal, hands-on experience working at an Elephant Refuge & Education Centre, Thailand
An elephant’s trunk, or it’s proboscis is of vital importance to an elephant. Early biologists referred to the elephant’s trunk as it’s ‘hand’, but it is infact a tool evolved from a merging of the nose and upper lip.
The primary use of an elephant’s trunk is for breathing and drinking – without its trunk the elephant would be able to do neither effectively. Where drinking is concerned, the elephant is able to submerge the tip of it’s trunk in water, and suck up vast amounts of liquid into its nasal cavity. From there, the elephant squirts the water back out through the trunk into it’s waiting mouth to quench it’s thirst. An adult Asian elephant can store 8.5 litres of water in its trunk at one time, and over a period of 5 minutes, can drink up to 210 litres of liquid – without its invaluable trunk, the elephant would struggle to drink at all, replying instead on small amounts of water in its food content.The trunk can be effectively used as a snorkel for breathing underwater, and as the majority of elephants love wallowing in pools, this is an extremely handy aspect to the trunk, and it is believed that this was perhaps the original function of the trunk prior to further evolution.
As well as for breathing and drinking, an elephant’s trunk has an extremely well developed sense of smell. From being able to detect the approach of predators through their scent, or being able to avoid bush fires due to smelling smoke well in advance, the trunk’s skill in detecting scents and aromas make it an incredibly useful tool for an elephant.
When eating, an elephant will use it’s trunk as a hand-like tool, and with over 150,000 muscles in the trunk, which work effectively in pairs, the proboscis is highly flexible; an elephant can wrap its trunk gently around its food – a piece of fruit or banana plant for example – an accurately pick it up and guide it straight into its mouth using only the trunk. The tactile nature of the trunk, and its incredibly sensitive tip which is often referred to as a lip, means that the trunk is not only capable of carrying heavy food loads, and lifting obstacles in its path, but also of gently retrieving food or using it to comfort its family members.
The elephant uses its trunk in a variety of emotional ways, and it can be used to demonstrate a range of feelings and emotions, whether directed at troop members, such as young elephant calves, or at threats. The trunk is used both in gentle caresses, particularly where offspring are where offspring are concerned, and in admonitory slaps when calves are misbehaving. By raising a trunk in a family group, an elephant can be signalling for the attention of the other troop members.
By beating the ground violently with the trunk, an elephant can signal to aggressors that it is angry; despite using the trunk in a threatening manner to predators and too-close humans, the trunk is never used as a weapon. A charging elephant will not use its trunk to beat predators, instead the elephant will favour using its forehead as a battering ram, its tusks to stab and its forefeet to kick and trample. Such is the value of the trunk that before charging, the elephant will tuck it backwards in an attempt to keep it well out of harms way.
When an elephant feels like it is on unsteady or unfamiliar ground, individuals can also be seen to beat the earth with the outside of their trunk to test the firmness of the ground. With an African adult elephant weighing between 4000-7000kg, this ability comes in particularly useful during wet seasons, where the usually stable ground can quickly be turned into treacherous bogs in which to become stuck.
Overall, the elephant’s trunk has a wide range of uses, all of which are incredibly useful to the elephant. With the first true elephant belonging to the genus Primeelephas during the Pliocine era 5 million years ago, the modern day Asian and African elephants have a trunk which is perfectly designed for their current needs and is an invaluable tool in their everyday lives.
